Jesse Helms was a ba`al tesuvah when it came to Israel, a man who was originally an enemy (even calling for breaking off diplomatic relations with Israel after the '82 Lebanon invasion) but who (thanks to Jerry Falwell) became a friend, and true friend he was! He helped get a "politically incorrect" rabbi freed who was being held in jail in Israel.

Back in my bitter post-Birch Society days I had an angry argument with him through the mail (snail mail, of course). His conversion to the mainstream Fundamentalist position on Israel was always a source of satisfaction to me.

Will he get wall to wall coverage for the next several days on all the Marxist MSM channels like Tim Russert did? Probably not. He will be mentioned as radical, right - winged conservative, and any other bad mouthing the MSM can vomit up.

105
posted on 07/04/2008 8:57:14 AM PDT
by RetiredArmy
(Congress in session, the White House occupied - Your freedom, liberty and rights are in jeopardy.)

“In the 1990 campaign against Gantt, for example, a Helms television ad showed a white man’s hands crumpling a rejection notice from a company that had used an affirmative action program to hire a black job candidate.”
...I remember that ad...it was hated by the Left because it pointed out the hypocrisy of using racial quotas in hiring....the last time I saw Helms was at Clinton’s impeachment...he passed by in the Senate hall on his scooter...he looked very frail and in poor health then...I’ll miss him.

No doubt the “news” media obits will be full of snarky comments about race, etc. But Jesse was such a man of principle. Even few Republicans could match his tenacity or be willing to stand up for freedom and strength even if it was unpopular. His margins of victory were never overwhelming but Jesse managed to convince a majority of NC voters to stick with him 4 times. Not bad.

I met Jesse Helms when I flew a charter booked by him at a last minute notice. The passengers were Helms, Henry Kissenger, and Elizabeth Dole. We were flying one of them to Minnesota for specialized cancer treatment. The other two were accompanying their friend for encouragement and support. (p)That was in 1995.

He hesitated on retiring in 2002 but I guess it is good he did. It gave him time to rest and spend with his family. If he had not survived this term then he might have been replaced by a Dem. How sad would that be.

Jesse was such a nice man on a personal level too. Even lefties said he was always polite to them. There was a news story about how the evil left wing Sen Lowell Weicker trashed Jesse as an extremist once during a debate on school prayer. Moments after the debate ended Jesse turned to Weicker and offered him a mint. He certainly had class.

Most are very positive - but the few who are attack posts are vile. Perhaps the “GOLO” moderators are not posting the worst of the attacks, though.

“I hope he likes things hot”

“Will he be buried in his sheets” (posted no doubt by an ignorant racist who ignores the FACT that Senator Helms was never in the Klan while one of THEIR champions, Senator KKK Byrd, was a grand dragon of of the Klan!)

117
posted on 07/04/2008 9:14:50 AM PDT
by Freedom'sWorthIt
(communism killed 100 milion people in 20th century.only cause USA did not give it chance to succeed)

I had the honor of meeting the senator when he spoke at CPAC in 1986. This was just days after the Challenger accident and he spoke very movingly about the memorial service he had attended in Houston the day before. He talked about the daughter of his fellow North Carolinian Mike Smith, copilot of the shuttle. “His little girl was clutching her teddy hear. She missed her daddy because he was gone, but he’s not really gone. He’ll live forever as long as she remembers him.” I nearly wept then and could burst into tears when I think of it now....

He then compared the accidental loss of the shuttle with the willful, deliberate mass murder by the Soviets of Korean Airlines flight 7. You can imagine the passion in his voice. Too bad not every Republican senator had the same attitude about the USSR.

After he spoke I was part of the crowd trying to shake his hand. I told him how his words had moved me and he said he would continue to be very supportive of the space program. I was so pleased I had a chance to meet him.

Ironically, Jesse was originally scheduled to fly on the South Korean flight that the Russians shot down (because the atheists’ motherland was “sacred”). If he had we’d have lost him much sooner and while he was still serving in the Senate.

It is truly a sad day in the Ole North State and in America in losing such a great and honorable American. He is my Senator and will always be my beloved Senator. He was a fellow North Carolinian and a fellow American who truly understood , as he once said, the honor it was to grace the halls of the Senate like the great statesmen of the past. He has now joined those few Great Statesmen that have gone on to their reward who fought for the basic tenants of American freedom and exceptionalism that many of us have allowed to become so insignificant. If you ever met him, you felt his warmth and easily realized that he was a gentleman, almost chivalrous in his approach and interaction to others. He stood for state’s rights and for the ability that we so often forget that we can do anything we set our minds to as Americans. So, this Fourth of July, I will remember not only the greatness of our country not in exception to, but because of men like Senator Helms. May God bless his family, his state, and his country in this time, and the efforts that continue through today that he so often and bravely championed. The Ole North State forever...Hoorah, Hoorah, the Good Ole North State!

122
posted on 07/04/2008 9:22:27 AM PDT
by takeemout
(Doing my part to be Carbon Positive)

That little story confirms, even more, the fact that Senator Helms was a Christian gentleman of the first order. He was a caring, loving friend in time of need to many many people.

I think it is quite wonderful that WRAL gave “birth” to Jesse Helms’ popularity by hosting his editorials......and then, as WRAL became “taken over” by the corrupt leftists that run NC government now through the party of death, destruction and defeat - their reporting of the Senator’s death (see the story at wral.com) is so full of (expected) distortions and mischaracterizations of this great man (HE was polarizing, racist, backward).....

He was elected to time after time after time - serving longer than any other Senator from NC in US History! The people of North Carolina LOVED Jesse Helms!

And through his service and his tenacious stands for what is right and good - leading to the election of President Ronald Reagan and the freedom for millions who suffered so long under communist rule among other victories for freedom - the WORLD LOVED SENATOR HELMS! Rather the good freedom loving people of the world loved him! While the enslaving totalitarians of the world loathed him....

And no rewriting of history you can do will change that!

So, thank you WRAL TV for GIVING THE WORLD JESSE HELMS!

123
posted on 07/04/2008 9:23:25 AM PDT
by Freedom'sWorthIt
(communism killed 100 milion people in 20th century.only cause USA did not give it chance to succeed)

I just heard about this! I haven't posted in a long time but as soon as I heard this news I came here right away.

Isn't that amazing that he died on the Fourth of July? I'm sure God has a message in that somehow. And Sen. Helms loved the Fourth:

"I shall always remember the shady streets, the quiet Sundays, the cotton wagons, the Fourth of July parades, the New Year's Eve firecrackers. I shall never forget the stream of school kids marching uptown to place flowers on the Courthouse Square monument on Confederate Memorial Day," Helms wrote in a newspaper column in 1956. (quote from today's online Denver Post)

There may never be another Senator with his long and consistent record in opposition to Communism, Castro, abortion, and gays. He didn't care when he was called names by liberals. He knew who he was!

he was very sick for most of his last year in the Senate. He had to use a scooter to get around Capital Hill. I think you are right that he wanted to spend more of his final years with his family.

As for Jesse being a nice man on a personal level, the story about how he adopted his son really moved me. Not everyone is able to adopt a child with cerebral palsy. I think that says a lot about his character.

I hate to pop in and pop out but I have a friend who came in last night from out of town for the holiday weekend and there is stuff to do to get ready for the big celebrations today. I hope it does not rain out the fireworks!

I leave you with a classic Helms quote:

Compromise, hell! ... If freedom is right and tyranny is wrong, why should those who believe in freedom treat it as if it were a roll of bologna to be bartered a slice at a time?

I was living in Tega Cay, South Carolina at the time. Right next to Charlotte. Yes indeed, they were very supportive of Helms. As a general rule, the south is very supportive of all their natives regardless of their party affiliation. To be otherwise is being “ugly”.

Well - as a “general rule” you may be right. However, for Senator Helms, the voices of those who opposed him because he opposed their socialist/communist ideals - among his fellow North Carolinians - not to mention the communist toadies the world over - were very loud and influential - the point that I would wager that most young Americans have NO IDEA of this man’s tremendous contribution to bringing freedom to this world’s citizens!

146
posted on 07/04/2008 10:01:23 AM PDT
by Freedom'sWorthIt
(communism killed 100 milion people in 20th century.only cause USA did not give it chance to succeed)

Jesse was the best. I voted for him in the first election that I eligible, 1978. He never got caught up in the Washington social circuit and could care less what liberals thought He was totally independent because he never doubted his convictions.

He was also instrumental in Reagan’s 1976 presidential run. Reagan had lost every primary to date and pressure to drop out was mounting. Jesse opposed his own governor who supported Ford in heading up Reagan’s efforts in North Carolina. Reagan won North Carolina and went on to nearly win the nomination which set up the winning effort in 1980.

My wife and I also had the pleasure of meeting him once in 2003 at a fund raiser in Raleigh attended by the First Lady Laura Bush and his replacement Senator Elizabeth Dole.

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